


The Empath

by JamieM



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: A little angst, Alternate Universe - Empath Powers, Fluff, M/M, Power Growth, but they're still skaters, kinda alternate universe, open ending(?)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 11:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20114497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamieM/pseuds/JamieM
Summary: Yuri have always had problems with his empathic powers, but now, he has a lot of people to rely on. It's changed his perspective of his powers, but now they're growing, and he doesn't know what to expect.This happens when everyone is older and Yuuri is an empath too.





	The Empath

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a long while since I've written to this fandom... Or written at all.  
But I was looking into some old things and found this fanfic rotting there, I really liked the plot of it, and don't really know why I didn't post this.  
I think it's already pretty good the way it is, but if enough people want it, I can try and give it another chapter. It has somewhat of an open ending.
> 
> Keep in mind that I'm not a native english speaker.  
I'm sorry about any mistakes.

To keep his mind clean and empty was the key not to go crazy. But it was always so difficult to do it with that much people around him. Actually, it was always difficult if you were an empathic at the level he was. He didn’t like it, actually he hated it more and more every new day, but he couldn’t just take this part of him out, so he kept going. He kept hating.

“Let’s go to another place, please Beka…” he said quietly. 

Yuri was uncommonly quiet, so Otabek immediately conceded and guided him outside the busy restaurant. Yuri just kept his head down and followed Otabek’s lead until they were outside and all the feelings morphed into one and he could just put them aside. 

“Yura…”

“Not now, I just want to go back home.” he said, looking Otabek in the eyes to show him his despair. He knew Otabek could read it clearly.

“Okay…”

It felt really good to feel Otabek’s understanding and worry about him. Knowing he had someone like him to rely on if he needed felt really comforting. Everyone though Yuri was always making a scene, always angry and exploding for nothing. Otabek knew exactly why he was always like that, and he understood even when he didn’t know. 

“Do you want to go to Yuuri’s and Victor’s house?” he asked.

“No, there’s no need to worry them, let’s just go home.” 

They walked to Otabek’s bike and were home not long after. When he finally was in his room, he could take a deep breath and try and empty his mind. Potya and Nina followed Yuri, but he closed the door, so they stood there meowing in front of it. Otabek knew Yuri needed space in times like these, so he took the cats and made his way to the kitchen. He was going to cook them something, since they ended up having nothing to eat at the restaurant. 

Some forty minutes later, Yuri finally left his room and Otabek was finishing making their meal. They ate in silence and when they finished, Yuri took the dishes and cleaned them.

“I was a bit overwhelmed, I’m sorry we had to leave as soon as we got there…” he said when he came back to the living room. “I know you wanted to eat there for a long time…”

“Don’t feel sorry, please. We can go there when there’s less people. I don’t mind, as long as you’re feeling well.” Otabek said, holding out his arms so Yuri would sit with him on the couch.

“You’re always so chill about my bursts, I know you don’t feel angry or upset, and it always amazes me. You’re always so selfless.” Yuri said, taking Otabek’s arms and wrapping them around him while he sat on his lap.

“You’re the amazing one… I don’t know why you just let people think you’re a little brat.” 

“Hey! I’m not that little anymore!” he laughed. “I’m taller than you now!”

“And you know this is not such an accomplishment to begin with…” Otabek laughed.

“When I met you, I thought it was.” Yuri confided. “I just wanted to be you. You were always so serene.”

“I know it’s all you want until now.” Otabek said, his hands running circles on the taller’s back and neck, pushing his body closer so he could kiss him tenderly.

“It is.” Yuri said when his lips were free again. “You know not everybody know about the empaths, and not everybody would understand it…”

“I know.” 

“You don’t have to feel like this, Beka…” Yuri said, feeling the gushing of worry and despair Otabek felt immediately. “I’m already used to it. I’m already resigned about my situation.”

“I really wish I could help you.”

“You already do so much…” he smiled and kissed Otabek again and again until he could in someway demonstrate the same love he felt coming from the other. 

Feeling what others felt was always problematic when Yuri was growing up. The only person he felt that plentiful love was his grandfather, he felt so good when he was around. But when he wasn’t, it was hell. His mother and father fought every moment they spent together and many other times by the phone. When his father left their home, he felt a lot of hatred coming from him. 

When he finally understood that the anger he felt could overcome easily any other feeling from others, he tried feeling angry all the time. To feel something that was genuinely his was always better than feeling anything from anyone. He could maintain this for some time, until his anger turned into violence and people started to call him a delinquent. 

At school, he didn’t have any friends. At the rink, he just listened to yells and other people feeling exhausted, it drained him little by little, but he knew he wanted to be a skater, so he started to force himself to feel the soothing anger there too. 

Mila was one of the first people that came to him and asked if he was okay, if he had any problems, if she could help. He felt the pity, the sadness in her. When he just yelled at her and told her to shut up, she smiled. He didn’t know why she was smiling. He just thought she was crazy. She let him go and, from that day on, she always spoke to him, even if she always got in response just more yelling. 

Mila was the first, but there were others. Victor, since the beginning, was someone he felt really good being around. Georgi was such a loveable person since younger, he felt even a little annoyed being around him, but in a good way, if there’s even something like good annoyed. Yakov was hard to get used to, his feelings were always messy, but in the end he understood the pure admiration he felt about every single one of his students. 

When he met Yuuri, he was kind of mesmerized about him. He obviously didn’t show, but seeing him ending 6th at his first grand prix final, and then the crying in the bathroom, everything made an impression on him. He was so anxious, insecure, but at the same time, Yuri thought he shouldn’t. 

Getting to know Yuuri better, he knew he was an empath too. But he didn’t seem to be dealing with it in a good way. He was sure Yuuri was having a wrong and distorted vision of himself because of his powers. Yuri was glad Victor interfered and made him see how amazing he was. He was obviously annoyed by the lovey dovey feelings he felt around them all the time, but this ended up being important for him to get comfortable with his empathic powers growing.

Since he was old enough to understand, his mother told him: this will grow. The power was really rare, but it was in her family for as long as there was record. His grandpa was an empathic as well, and that was why he felt so happy around him. 

Every empathic deal with the powers in a different way. His grandpa once said to him that this was so intimate, you couldn’t teach anyone how to deal with an empathic power because every person feel in a different way. So, in short, he was alone to trail his own path to sanity, or die trying to find it.

“Yura...? Are you listening?” Otabek asked, and he was holding his phone in front of him.

“I’m sorry…” he just said.

“Yuuri and Victor invited us to dinner, what do I say?” he asked again.

“Okay, we can go.” Yuri said. “They’re doing that psychic thing again…” 

Otabek smiled at him, knowing what he was talking about. Yuuri had made such a connection with Yuri that he always knew when Yuri was feeling overwhelmed and called him over. It was one of the reasons Yuri relied so much on him and Victor. 

“You want to do something until dinner time?” Otabek asked.

“I wanted to go to the rink…” Yuri said immediately.

“Yura… You know we can’t go today…”

“I know… It just feels more inviting when you can’t go.” he smiled.

“They’re just doing some repairs, and we can go back tomorrow...” Otabek reasoned.

“Can we go for a run then? We can go to the park and race each other, the loser pays the winner an ice cream after.” he said.

“Why ice cream?”

“I just want ice cream.”

“It’s a deal, then.”

“Really? I’m going to change.” Yuri said, getting up and quickly going to their room.

The race was a disaster. When Yuri realised Otabek was going to win, he tried all sorts of distracting methods, he said he was feeling tired, that he got cramps, that he was feeling dizzy, and Otabek believed none of them. In the end, he lost, and his longer legs gave him no heads up like he thought they would. He paid their ice creams feeling deceived by his own body, and Otabek laughed at his face every time he looked at him. 

They got home after, took a shower and got ready to go to Victor’s and Yuuri’s house. Otabek always liked going there, because he liked seeing Yuri feeling so well. They were the closest thing Yuri had to a family there. After feeding the cats, they got their helmets and climbed down the stairs of the building.

When they arrived at Yuuri's and Victor’s house, Makkachin and Hoshi, their new standard poodle that was no more than a baby but was almost the same size of Makkachin already, came to meet them before they even got to the front door. Victor opened the door and called them.

“Hey! You're here! Yuuri is making katsudon with his mother's recipe.” Victor said, letting them enter the warm house.

“Thanks for calling us.” Otabek said politely. “Yuri was really needing this.”

“Hey!”

“What happened Yuri?” Victor asked, concerned.

“It's nothing... Let's go to the kitchen, I don't want to tell the story twice.” Yuri said, already throwing his jacket on Victor and making his way to Yuuri.

“Hey Yuri! How are you?” Yuuri said when he saw him coming.

“I'm fine.” Yuri said. “This smell is amazing... It's just like hers...”

“Thanks, I'm doing my best here.” Yuuri said, big smile on his face.

“I thought you were going to tell us something...” Victor said, arriving at the kitchen.

“Yeah, it happened again today, I felt overwhelmed with all the feelings again. I think it's growing again, this is happening frequently.”

“I hope it's less than the other time...” Yuuri said, remembering the last time Yuri's powers had shown some growth. It was disastrous.

“I hope so too.” Yuri said. “At least this time I have Otabek...”

Yuri felt the familiar wave of care, love, and a bit of embarrassment he always felt from Otabek every time he was so open about them. It was reassuring. 

“Oh Yuri, you should see yourself… Your 15-years-old self would be fake-vomiting right now…” Victor laughed. 

“15-years-old me didn’t know how much his power would grow and how much it would be difficult to manage…” Yuri sighed. “I was an idiot.”

“I’m glad you see it too…” Victor said.

“Shut up.”

“You two…” Yuuri sighed. “I’m almost done here, can you arrange the table?”

“Of course.” Victor said, taking Yuri by the hand and making him help. 

“Otabek, what exactly happened?” Yuuri asked concerned.

“He felt overwhelmed as soon as we got to that new restaurant. I’ve been trying to make reservations since it opened. I finally got a table, but we had to leave. I was not upset, but Yuri was, very much so.” Otabek said quietly. 

“How long did he take to tranquilize again?”

“Around forty minutes. He’s been taking longer and longer every time it happens.” Otabek said, and Victor and Yuri came back to the kitchen. 

“What are you whispering there?” Yuri asked.

“We’re not…!” Yuuri said, taking the last bowl and putting some rice in it. 

“I was telling Yuuri I never saw how the crust of the katsudon is made.” Otabek said nonchalantly. 

“Right.” Yuri said, suspiciously.

“It’s done! Let’s eat!” Yuuri said, taking two bowls and Otabek helped him taking the other two to the table.

They ate chatting and laughing, but Otabek saw the worried glances Yuuri gave Yuri. Yuuri knew how it was to feel his powers growing and getting out of control. He really wanted to help Yuri deal with it, but he knew every empath had to fight their own battles. 

Yuri and Otabek got back home in a heavy silence. They were used to silence between them, most things didn’t have to be said, but this was tense, edgy. 

“Yuri…?” 

“What did you tell Katsudon?” he asked. “He was looking at me like I was going to break in an emotional fit anytime.”

“I just told him what happened again. That we had to leave immediately. He was worried about you, can’t you understand...?”

“Yes I can understand. But you don’t know how it is to feel someone feeling so… pitiful. I felt like I was not strong enough to endure it, the growing of my powers…”

“You will endure it and handle it the best you can, I am sure of it.” Otabek said immediately. 

“But Yuuri didn’t seem to agree with you.” Yuri said.

“You’re thinking too much about it, Yuuri knows you’re strong.” 

“And yet he pitied me like I couldn’t know how he was feeling…” Yuri said a little hurt. “Let’s just… Not talk about it, okay. I’m tired.”

Yuri went to their room and changed into more comfortable clothes. When he was out to take a glass of water and take it to the room, Otabek was there, staring at him from the same spot he was. 

“What is wrong with you?” he asked.

“It’s… I’m trying Yura. I’m trying to reach you and you’re running again.” that happened before, a lot of times, and they promised they would talk it through when it happened again. 

“I’m sorry.” Yuri said, really feeling guilty, and feeling the worry from Otabek growing stronger. “I’m terrified about this growth of my powers. I’m afraid I can’t stand it. I’m afraid it would consume me like it almost happened last time.” 

“You’re not weak, Yuri. We can’t know what will happen, but I have faith in you.” Otabek said, coming closer to Yuri and embracing him. 

“I know. I can feel it.” Yuri said. “It just makes me even more afraid that I don’t really… If it really consumes me, I know how you’ll feel. I know your fears.”

“Again, you’re thinking too much. I beg you, Yuri, don’t do this to yourself. I’m here, and if you want to talk, if you want to keep your mind out of this, I’m going to help you.” Otabek said, and Yuri felt the gushes of love and affection and concern coming from him. 

“We should sleep, tomorrow we’ll have training to do.” Yuri said. “You know how it is coming back after days without training.”

“It’s always a disaster, I know.” Otabek laughed and, still embraced to Yuri, guided them to their room, their two cats following short after.

**Author's Note:**

> So, if you really want some more, I can try and write one (or more) chapter(s).  
Maybe you can inspire me better than me trying to write this by myself without any feedback. 
> 
> Hope you liked it and Kudos and Comments really help making my day way better.  
Thanks for reading!


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